Johnson said Short, who is accused of stabbing a man in the parking lot of a Sheetz convenience store on South Potomac Street on June 20, decided to return to the Hagerstown area because local family members told him he was wanted by authorities.

Johnson said Short left the area soon after the stabbing but would not comment on where he had gone.

Police have said the victim, identified in court records as Dennis W. Bowers Jr., was stabbed in the left shoulder after he declined to give money to a man who asked for it. He was treated at Washington County Hospital and released, police said.

On the day before the stabbing, the assailant reportedly was seen asking for money in the first block of Summit Avenue and at a Salem Avenue convenience store.

Short, wearing a baggy white shirt and jeans, fiddled with his handcuffs and looked up only when spoken to during his Tuesday appearance before Washington County District Court Commissioner Timothy Haven.

Short showed little emotion when Haven told him the maximum penalty for a conviction on a charge of first-degree attempted murder is life in prison.

Haven ordered Short held without bond at the Washington County Detention Center. A bond review hearing for Short was scheduled for today.